travel – Page 5 – travelteachlove

Driving the Finnish Archipelago

July 10, 2016 No Comments

On one of our last days in Turku, our family drove us around the beautiful archipelago around Turku. Skies had cleared from the day before so we had great weather for seeing the sights. We had to set out early (5:30) so we could make the first ferry, but with coffee, tea and other munchies packed we were ready to tackle the day. It was interesting to drive out of the city and into more rural areas surrounding Turku. We even saw five moose grazing out in the distance at one point! After an hour of driving we reached the […]

Travel

Finnish Life

July 5, 2016 No Comments

It has been a few days since my sister and I arrived to Turku where our family lives and already I am in love. We are so fortunate to have relatives that live in such a beautiful area of Finland. It has been great spending time with family and getting to experience a bit of Finnish life. Here are some of my favorite things about life in Turku. Midnight sun: Even though the sun goes down technically around 10:45 pm, it doesn’t really ever become fully dark in summertime here in Turku. It’s great! Days become much longer without it […]

Travel

Design Museum of Helsinki

July 2, 2016 4 Comments

Of all the museums I went to while in Helsinki, the Design Museum was by far my favorite. It is a small museum but it packed quite a punch. In fact it was so great I went back for a second visit with my sister when she arrived to Helsinki. The featured designer was Eero Aarino who is famous for his ball chair. As I walked through the museum both times I was captivated by Aarino’s simple but interesting designs. As I learned his designs are considered artifacts because he takes materials and forces them into man made designs. […]

Travel

Helsinki Wanderings

June 23, 2016 61 Comments

Hyvää Juhannusta! Happy Midsummer as they say in Finland. I will miss the holiday celebration this weekend but that’s ok because in 3 short days I will take off for Finland! My bags are pretty much packed at this point letting me focusing on the good stuff, what to do once I arrive. Since I will be on my own for the first few days, it gives me a chance to wander the city with a loose itinerary of areas I want to explore and museums I want to spend hours rambling through. I have divvied up activities and planned […]

Packing, Travel

Packing for Finland

June 15, 2016 2 Comments

All attempts to pack light for my almost four week trip coming up have flown right out the window. Forget the carry on size bag. There will be no mix and matching from just ten items for this girl. I am going with the big suitcase, too many clothes, and I’m not sad about it one bit. (Although I may be changing my tune when I arrive at the hostel in Helsinki) The preliminary pack has taken over my living room floor. To try and create some semblance of order, I have laid out clothes by stacking them. It is […]

Travel

TSA Pre Check

May 30, 2016 2 Comments

With security lines growing at airports, and the summer rush about to begin, I guess it was time to jump on board and get TSA Pre Checked. Each night there seems to be a news report about horrifying security lines that stretch for hours. Knowing that I have several flights coming up for various trips, it makes sense to bite the bullet and just pay TSA to get pre checked. I hate the idea of paying for something that is, and should be free, but I also value my time. I most certainly do not want to spend hours of my […]

Travel

Spain Reunion

May 19, 2016 No Comments

The other night almost all of the teachers who traveled to Spain this past February got together for a little reunion. It was great to see travel friends I haven’t seen since our trip. Getting together also reminded me how lucky I am to be in a school district that supports and understands how important global education is to our students. We started the evening at our school’s library. Everyone had a chance to share different ways they brought the trip back to their classroom. There were iMovies, Power Points and other presentations that immediately brought me back to our trip. It was […]

Travel

Guide Book Love

May 16, 2016 3 Comments

I have always believed that planning for a trip is half the fun. Besides scouring blogs, Pinterest, and countless websites to find tips and things to do, I love a good guide book to help me plan my trips. There is just something refreshing about a book in hand with maps, pictures, and lists of the best of everything waiting to be marked up with notes. Needing a guide book also means a trip to my favorite store, Barnes and Noble. So I was more than happy to check out their guide book selection the other day after school as I prepare […]

Classroom Connection, Science, Travel

Virtual Trip to the Galápagos

May 13, 2016 No Comments

On Friday my class took a virtual trip to the Galápagos Islands. Students learned about a new place in the world and the animals found there, as I reminisced on a fabulous trip and shared what I learned from traveling there. We are gearing up the start of our big animal adaptations unit in science. In class, each student selected an animal to research from places I have traveled to around the world. Over the years, I have gathered resources for students to use for research. Books, websites, brochures, pictures, videos and stories of the animals and the places they live […]

Travel

ATV Around Santorini

May 3, 2016 No Comments

With so many options to get around Santorini we wanted to make sure we did our research before coming to a final decision. Picking ATVs to use for three days was perfect! After reading blogs, travel guides and talking to our guide we decided that ATVs would give us the most freedom for the best price. Because there were just three of us, we only needed two ATVs. At just 55 Euro for three days (oh the joys of traveling in the shoulder season!), we would be able to go anywhere we wanted and not spend a fortune. Not to […]